JP2003156438A - Non-destructive determining device for quality of agricultural product - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that a detection position is shifted from the optimum detection position for agricultural products not to be able to perform precise determination in some cases, because a conventional detecting means is constituted to conduct detection in one point, when products such as agricultural products of which the shapes are not uniform are classified, and a problem that the position of the detecting means is required to the changed in the conventional art in accordance to the size (fruit diameter) and a shape of the agricultural products to prevent the detection position from being shifted. SOLUTION: In this non-destructive quality determining device wherein the agricultural products M are conveyed by a conveying means 1, wherein a projection means 11 and a photo-receiving means 12 are arranged on the both sides in the midway of an agricultural product conveying route to serve as a measuring part 3, and wherein the quality of the agricultural products are determined based on light transmitted through the agricultural products to be received, a detecting means 15 for the agricultural products is provided on the upstream side from the measuring part in the agricultural product conveying route, and the vertical-directional position of the agricultural products is detected by the detecting means to measure the quality of the agricultural products in the measuring part after a prescribed time after passing through the detecting means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a mandarin orange, a melon,
The present invention relates to an apparatus for nondestructively measuring quality such as internal sugar content of agricultural products such as watermelon.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a non-destructive quality judgment device for judging quality such as sugar content of an agricultural product without destroying the agricultural product, the agricultural product is conveyed by a conveying means and light such as infrared light or laser light is used. There is one configured to determine the internal quality such as sugar content by irradiating the light and analyzing the light transmitted through the agricultural products. In such a non-destructive quality determination device, for example, a light projecting member for irradiating light to the agricultural product is arranged on one side of the transportation means such as a conveyor for transporting the agricultural product, and the light transmitted through the agricultural product is A light receiving member for receiving light is arranged on the other side of the conveying means.
Then, as shown in FIG. 4, the detecting means 22 is arranged upstream of the measuring section 20 in the transport path 21, and the detecting means 22 is provided.
After the agricultural product M placed on the tray 23 is detected by, the measuring unit irradiates the agricultural product M with light after a predetermined time, and the measurement is performed.

[0003]

However, the conventional detection means is configured to detect the agricultural products at one point, and when it is desired to select the agricultural products that are not uniform in shape, Since the detection position is deviated due to the above, if the quality is measured after a predetermined time from the measurement position, it may deviate from the center, which is the optimum measurement position of the agricultural product, and it may not be possible to perform highly accurate determination. Further, in order to prevent the detection position from shifting, it was necessary to change the position of the detection means depending on the size (fruit diameter) and shape of the agricultural product.

[0004]

The problem to be solved by the present invention is as described above, and the means for solving this problem will be described below.

That is, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the agricultural product is transported by the transporting means, and the light projecting means and the light receiving means are arranged on both sides of the agricultural product transporting route to serve as a measuring section, which is based on the light received through the agricultural product. In the non-destructive quality judging device for judging the quality of agricultural products by providing a detecting means for the agricultural products upstream of the measuring part of the agricultural product transportation route, the detecting means detects the vertical position of the agricultural products, and passes through the detecting means. The measuring unit measures the quality of the agricultural product after a predetermined time.

In the second aspect, the shape of the agricultural product is detected by the detecting means, and the central portion of the agricultural product is measured.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a nondestructive quality judging device of the present invention,
2 is a block diagram showing a non-destructive quality determination device, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a detection position and a measurement position of an agricultural product when the mounting posture of the agricultural product is different, and FIG. 4 is a case where the mounting posture of the conventional agricultural product is different. It is a figure showing the detection position and the measurement position of the agricultural product in.

The nondestructive quality judgment device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. A plurality of trays 2 conveyed by the roller conveyor 1 are set on a roller conveyor 1 which is a conveying means, and agricultural products M such as melons for which quality judgment is performed are placed on the trays 2. .
The agricultural products M placed on the tray 2 are sequentially transported on the roller conveyor 1, and a measuring unit 3 is arranged in the middle of the transportation route of the agricultural products M. The transport means is a roller conveyor 1.
However, a belt conveyor or the like may be used. Agricultural products can be measured for all harvested products, or can be indiscriminately taken out for sampling and measured.

In the measuring section 3, a light projecting means 11 such as a lamp or an LED for projecting light such as infrared light or near infrared light is arranged on one side of the roller conveyor 1, and the roller conveyor 1 is provided. A light receiving means 12 such as a photodiode or a phototransistor for receiving light is arranged opposite to the other side.

Further, a detection sensor 15 is provided on the upstream side of the measuring section 3 in the transportation route of the agricultural product M, and the detection sensor 15 causes the agricultural product M to be conveyed onto the tray 2 to be transported.
It is detected whether or not is placed.

When the presence of the detection sensor 15 is confirmed, the tray 2 is calculated after a predetermined time which is calculated from the conveying speed of the roller conveyor 1 and reaches the measuring unit 3 which is a predetermined distance away.
The upper agricultural product M is projected by the light projecting means 11, and the projected light is applied to the agricultural product M from one side of the roller conveyor 1. The light applied to the agricultural product M passes through the agricultural product M, travels to the other side of the roller conveyor 1, and receives light.
2 is received.

That is, as shown in FIG.
The presence or absence of the agricultural product M detected by the controller 5 is input to the controller 5, and when the tray 2 in which the presence of the agricultural product M is confirmed reaches the measuring unit 3, the controller 5 causes the light projecting means 11 to operate.
An output signal is sent to the light emitting means 11, light is emitted from the light emitting means 11, passes through the agricultural product M, and then is received by the light receiving means 12.

Then, the light receiving signal of the light receiving means 12 is input to the controller 5, and the controller 5 calculates and analyzes the light receiving signal value. Although light in a predetermined wavelength range is projected from the light projecting means 11, when the light passes through the agricultural product M, the sugar or the like contained in the agricultural product M absorbs the light of the predetermined wavelength, and thus the projected light is projected. The light projected from the means 11,
By comparing and analyzing the light received by the light receiving means 12 (calculating by the controller 5), the quality of the agricultural product M such as the sugar content is judged (comparing the equal mass with a set value or a value of a predetermined wavelength). It is possible to judge the grade, etc.

When the quality of the agricultural product M is determined as described above, the more accurate the determination is, the closer to the center of the agricultural product M. Therefore, the light irradiation should be performed when the approximate center of the agricultural product M passes. ing. That is, the agricultural product M to be judged
The internal quality of the is greatly different depending on the light irradiation part, and it is desirable to irradiate the central part of each of the agricultural products M sequentially conveyed with light as much as possible. However, the agricultural product M, which is a natural product, differs in size (fruit diameter) and shape among the individual even in the same variety, and the tray 2 of the agricultural product M is used.
Since the upper placement posture may be different, if the detection position shifts, the measurement position may shift from the central portion of the produce M. Therefore, in order to constantly irradiate the substantially central portion of the agricultural product M with light, it is necessary to adjust the detection position according to the size (fruit diameter) or shape of each agricultural product M.

Therefore, in the present invention, the detection sensor 15 is configured so as to be able to detect at a plurality of points in the vertical direction of the agricultural product, so that the central portion of the agricultural product M is as much as possible without requiring adjustment of the detection sensor 15. It is possible to irradiate light to. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the detection sensor 15 is configured by an area sensor or the like configured by a plurality of vertically arranged photosensors and the like to detect the presence or absence of the agricultural product M to be conveyed, and at the same time when passing. In, the shape of the produce M is detected by inputting the presence or absence of each element of the detection sensor 15 with respect to the produce M to the controller 5. Then, the quality is measured a predetermined time after the center of gravity passes after the tip of the agricultural product M is detected. That is, since the transport speed of the roller conveyor 1 is constant, the quality of the agricultural product M at the substantially central position can be measured by arranging the measuring unit 3 at the position of the distance L which is reached after a predetermined time from the detection. Of.

In this way, as shown in FIG. 3, the detection sensor 15 is configured to detect the agricultural product M in the vertical direction at a plurality of points so that the agricultural product M placed on the tray 2 can be positioned. When they are different, or when the size (fruit diameter) or shape of the agricultural product M is different, the detection sensor 15 detects the shape of the agricultural product M passing through to measure the position of the center of gravity of the agricultural product M. . And
By measuring the substantially central portion of the agricultural product M from the position of the center of gravity, it is possible to accurately perform the measurement at the approximately central portion of the agricultural product M that has reached the measuring unit 3. As shown in FIG.
In the conventional detection means 22, when the placement posture of the produce M on the tray 23 is different, the detection position deviates from the optimum detection position of each produce M, and thus the measurement position may be displaced from the center of the produce M. It was

Therefore, the quality of each agricultural product M can be determined under the same conditions, and highly accurate determination can be performed. Further, it is possible to easily deal with various kinds of agricultural products M having different sizes (fruit diameters) and shapes, and to provide a non-destructive quality determination device with high versatility.

[0018]

Since the present invention is constructed as described above,
The following effects are achieved.

That is, as described in claim 1, the agricultural product is transported by the transporting means, and the light projecting means and the light receiving means are arranged on both sides of the agricultural product transporting route to serve as a measuring section, and the light received through the agricultural product is received. In a non-destructive quality judging device for judging the quality of agricultural products based on the above, a detecting device for agricultural products is provided on the upstream side of the measuring part of the agricultural product transporting route, and the detecting means detects the vertical position of the agricultural products, and the detecting means. Since the quality of the agricultural product is measured by the measuring unit after a predetermined time after the passage, the quality of each agricultural product M can be determined under the same conditions, and highly accurate determination can be performed. Further, it is possible to easily deal with various kinds of agricultural products M having different sizes (fruit diameters) and shapes, and to provide a non-destructive quality determination device with high versatility.

Since the shape of the agricultural product is detected by the detecting means and the central portion of the agricultural product is measured by the detecting means, the measurement is accurately performed at the substantially central portion of the agricultural product that reaches the measuring section. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a nondestructive quality judgment device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a nondestructive quality determination device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a detection position and a measurement position of an agricultural product when the agricultural product is placed in different postures.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a detection position and a measurement position of a farm product when the conventional placement posture of the farm product is different.

[Explanation of symbols]

M agricultural products 1 roller conveyor 3 measuring section 11 Projection means 12 Light receiving means 15 detection sensor

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F term (reference) 2F065 AA17 AA26 AA52 BB07 BB15                       CC00 FF02 GG14 JJ01 JJ05                       PP16                 2G051 AA05 AB20 BA06 BA20 CA02                       CB02 DA01 DA06 EC01 ED23                 2G059 AA01 BB11 CC20 DD12 DD13                       EE01 GG02 GG10 HH01 KK01

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. The agricultural product is transported by a transporting means, and the light projecting means and the light receiving means are arranged on both sides of the agricultural product transporting route to serve as measuring units, and the quality of the agricultural product is judged based on the light received through the agricultural product. In the non-destructive quality determination device, the agricultural product detection means is provided on the upstream side of the measurement part of the agricultural product transportation route, the detection means detects the vertical position of the agricultural product, and the measurement is performed after a predetermined time passes through the detection means. A non-destructive quality determination device for agricultural products, characterized in that the quality of agricultural products is measured by the department. 2. The agricultural product non-destructive quality judging device according to claim 1, wherein the detecting means detects the shape of the agricultural product and measures the central portion of the agricultural product.